Ghostly troubles
by Ruby 1334
Summary: Phantom. The ghost everyone comes to for advice, to talk about world domination ideas and even just someone to talk to. But what most other ghosts fail to realize, is that Phantom has troubles of his own... Part of Helping the lost and Prices, my short DP stories series.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone! So yeah, instead of writing and getting onto those other ideas I had for a bonus chapter for Prices...**

**Well, I came up with the idea of writing about Phantom's past while living in the ghost zone! Not only does this fan fic let you know what Phantom was doing but it also gives you some information about himself! :D **

**This is based before Helping the lost and Prices. You don't HAVE to read them for this to make sense but I highly recommend reading them so this can make even MORE sense! (If you get what I mean.) There is a particular paragraph in HtL that may come in handy to have read for this fan fic.**

**I will get onto those other bonus chapter ideas soon. But for now... you can read this!:**

Phantom was happily relaxing. He was in his lair in the ghost zone, reading a book while floating. His back facing the ground while his front faced the ceiling.

Suddenly, the door to his lair was knocked upon. He frowned and tried to pretend that the knocking hadn't even happened. He wasn't feeling like having visitors today.  
The quick two tapped knocks rapped again as Phantom concentrated on reading the book even more. Finally, after two more quickly tapped knocks the door was opened.

'Guess they were too impatient.' Phantom thought to himself. He sighed, turning over so now his back faced the ceiling and looked to see who his visitor was.

"Phantom! I have come up with another idea as to what to do to rule the world once I finally find a portal to lead me to the human world!" A voice said.

"What is it this time, Boxy? Make it quick, I'm trying to relax." Phantom replied.  
"I can steal Pandora's box!"  
Phantom felt himself roll his eyes.  
"And just how are you going to do that? She has countless amount of guards and a HUGE complicated maze! Before you will even reach the temple where the box is kept. Plus, she would be in the temple, guarding it. Phantom said.  
"Since when did you know so much about Pandora's place?" Boxy asked. (It was his nickname. His more formal name was: the box ghost. Yes, most. Imaginative. Name. Ever! *sarcasm*)  
Phantom flew over to a bookshelf he had in his lair and searched for a book in particular. Once he had spotted the book, he took the book out of the bookshelf and gave it to Boxy.  
"Here, you can have a read of it if you want." He said.  
Boxy frowned.  
"Places of the ghostzone? How did you even get this?"  
"The ghostwriter wrote it, it's where I've gotten most of my books from." Phantom said pointing at the bookcase.  
"Okay then, but take your book back. I don't have time for reading! I have to come up with and put plans to action about taking over the human world!" Boxy said.  
Phantom took the book from Boxy and tucked it between his arm and side. He frowned.  
"So, going to go through with your plan and leave me be?"  
"Yes I am! See you soon, Phantom!" Boxy said as he slammed the door shut behind him.  
"Good riddance." Phantom said as he flew over to his bookshelf and returned the book to where it belonged.  
'Now where was I? Oh yes, page 137...'  
With that he continued to read.

Not even five minutes later his door was knocked on. This knock was more of a quiet one tap, one that someone who wasn't a ghost wouldn't easily hear. After at least five minutes of waiting the door opened slightly.  
"Phantom? You there?" A voice called.  
Phantom grumbled quietly and closed his book with a slam.  
"Yes, I am." He answered.  
With that the door opened fully and Kitty floated into the room.  
"What is it?" He asked, neon eyes glaring.  
"Hey, do you think Johnny will like this outfit I have recently gotten?" She asked.  
'What am I now, fashion police as well as a problem solver?' Phantom wondered to himself in annoyance. He just really wanted some time alone. Even if it were only a full human day alone, he would be satisfied. But no, the longest he had been left alone in such a long time had only been 30 minutes. And even then straight afterwards 20 or so ghosts came at the same time to his lair, for all sorts of reasons.  
murphy's law, he supposed.

Kitty held out a pair of dark purple skinny jeans, a green strap on top and black high heels.  
"Yes I'm sure he'll love it." Phantom said with hardly any emotion in his voice.  
If he had any emotion with his tone at the time, it would've had a lot of anger and annoyance in it.  
"Really?" Kitty asked checking, eyes sparkling.  
"Yes, really. Can you leave now! I have some things I need to do!" Phantom asked, not hiding his emotion anymore.  
Kitty folded her arms and glared at him.  
"Like what? Reading? You always seem to be doing that when I come over."  
"Well what else do you think I'll be doing, hm?" He asked/snapped back.  
She bit her lip.  
"I don't know..." She whispered quietly.  
She then turned around and flew out of the room.  
'If everyone would leave me alone for a human day I would've finished this book now. I'm finishing all my books that I own before I give myself something else to do. And with them always interrupting me...  
It'll take awhile till I get through my books.'

Phantom was now only just a page away from finishing his latest book he had been reading. With ten more interruptions after Kitty's one over an hour ago he had only had 10 minutes to himself for reading.

Suddenly, the door was kicked at. The sheer force of the kick sent the door off it's hinges and it hit Phantom's lair's wall with a bang!  
Phantom looked over to the door that was now busted on the wall inside his lair.  
'Oh well. Now the ghosts don't have to knock on my door anymore. They can just fly straight in. This is like, Oh I don't know...  
The tenth door that's been broken in the past week.'  
Phantom's eyes and attention turned towards the ghost that was floating in the entrance of where the door used to be.  
"Did you have to bust the door."  
"This is urgent, ghost child."  
Phantom glared.  
"You've gotta stop calling me that, Skulker. You don't hear me calling you nicknames, do ya?"  
"No chance. I'll call you what I want to call you. Now, why I came here...  
I'm trying to win Ember back. Tips?"  
"Seriously AGAIN? This is the FIFTH time this has happened during the last month."  
"What can I say...  
she overreacts over the slightest thing.."  
"What happened this time?" Phantom asked as he crossed his arms.  
"One of my ghost creatures escaped out of it's cage. It wrecked my lair. And that includes her guitar that was in it at the time."  
Phantom winced. He wasn't sure if Skulker knew just how much Ember loved that guitar but he sure did. She could get another, sure. But her guitars were special to her. Very special.

He put a hand to his chin in thought.  
'What could Skulker do...  
Oh!  
I know!'  
"Get her a new guitar. Plus, take her to a concert or throw her an amazing date. Don't forget about apologizing." Phantom answered.  
"What type of date?"  
"It depends on her taste. Here, I've got just the thing." Phantom flew over to his book case and grabbed a book titled: Girls and dates.  
He then flew back over and gave it to Skulker.  
Skulker studied the book for a few seconds.  
"Yes... this will do quite well.  
Thank you ghost child. Until next time."  
Skulker said as he turned to leave.  
"Be careful with that one! I don't want a repeat with what happened with the last book I let you borrow!" Phantom said as he was about to shut the door, but then sighed as he looked over his shoulder at the far wall again.  
'I'll need to look through the book of ghosts again. I'm sure I'll be able to find the address of the lair of the woodworker again.'  
He flew over to the book he had left on the ground where he had last been floating.  
He picked it up.  
'But first...  
I have a book to finish..'  
With a smirk, he opened up the book to read

**That's the end of chapter 1! I'm not exactly sure how many chapters this story will be but I do know that it's going to be a short fan fic.**

**More interesting stuff is going to happen in either the next chapter, or the chapter after that. (If there is going to be more than two chapters...)**

**And... yeah! So, hope you enjoyed and please review! :D**


	2. Chapter 2

***Takes over a month to update***

**You guys: -_-**

**Me: -_-'**

**I can't believe I took over a month to update something! And no, it's not like I had to actually write out the chapter. It was already written. All I had to do was a bit of editing.**

**I blame it on me reading fanfiction ALL THE TIME and spending up all my free time doing so.**

**I'm addicted to reading fanfiction...**

**Anyways, here's the next chapter. Hope you all enjoy it!:**

The door was suddenly opened as a figure flew into the room.

"I, Technus master of all time and-"

"Long winded speeches, I know. You also forgot to knock." Phantom said, scowling. He closed his new book that he had started reading and looked at Technus.

"I have something important to tell you, though!"

Phantom rolled his eyes. "Shoot."

Technus looked at him, confused. "Care to explain your hip talk?"

"Just tell me what it is!"

"Okay then. I, Technus master of all time and-"

"Do we have to go through this AGAIN!? Skip the long speeches that ARE NOT necessary and get to the point!"

Technus was silent again.

Till after a time he started to talk once again: "I have come up with a plan to take over the world!"

"See, that wasn't THAT hard, was it?"

"It was very hard, actually."

"You'll need to work on that then.

So... you were saying?" Phantom said.

"My plan is to take over the world wide web! Then I can get access to ALL the computers in the world and control things!"

"And you're getting to the world wide web, how?"

"When I get to the human world."

"Which is...?"

"I don't know. Why do you ask?"

Phantom leaned back. "I was just checking to find out if you had any way into the human world. I'd love to visit there sometime.

...

Soooo, is that it? Can I get back to my reading now?"

Technus shrugged. "Yeah, sure... I guess." He then flew out the door and shut it behind him.

Phantom sighed. 'He still needs to shorten his speeches.'

* * *

A loud banging was on Phantom's door.

"What is it!?" Phantom yelled.

"Phantom, let me in! I need to talk to ya!"

Phantom could've recognized that voice a kilometer away. "Alright, alright! Give me a sec!" Phantom yelled as he put his book onto a couch and flew over to the door. He then opened it, and looked down.

A green skinned ghost was standing in the doorway. He was wearing brown shorts and t-shirt, plus(he) was holding a net of some sorts in his hands. There was a skeleton type looking dog at his feet, which looked quite tired and bored.

"What do you want, Youngblood?" Phantom asked, after taking in his appearance.

"I want a book on how to capture ghost animals!" Phantom smirked.

"So Skulker's getting some competition now, eh?"

"Not really, I just felt like being a hunter today." Youngblood shrugged.

"Alright then." Phantom flew over to his trusty bookcase and grabbed out just the book he was looking for. "Here, Hunters of the ghost zone. It'll tell you info about hunters, plus good info on capturing ghost animals." He handed Youngblood the book.

Youngblood turned around and was about to fly off when Phantom thought of something.

"Wait wait wait." Phantom said, turning Youngblood around to face him again.

"What!? I need to get onto this!"

"Just WHERE are you going to go hunt for ghost animals?" Phantom asked, arms crossed. As far as he knew, there were only two main places where they hung around.

"Skulker's island. But he doesn't need to know that, does he?" Youngblood winked.

Phantom sighed. "As long as that book stays in good condition."

"Deal!" Youngblood shook his hand and flew away.

Phantom was about to shut the door when Spectra flew towards the door and put a hand upon it.

"Phantom! Just the ghost I wanted to see!" She said with a wide smile.

Phantom frowned. Out of all the ghosts out there, Spectra was one of the ghosts he really didn't want to talk to. And he had good reasons as to why he didn't. She was in her human looking form at the time and he could notice a few wrinkles under her eyes and on her face.

"Can you leave?" He asked.

"But why? I only just got here!" Her mood didn't even change, that fake grin still upon her face.

"What is it you want then?" Phantom decided not to waste his time trying to persuade her to leave. She could be very stubborn and it would be better just to get this conversation over and done with then getting into an argument with her. That would just end up wasting even more of his time, in the end. He stood aside from the entrance to the door, letting her into his lair. He then closed the door behind him as she floated over to a couch and sat upon it.

"Nothing, nothing... I was wondering though, how are you feeling? Happy? Neutral? Sad?" She pressed. Phantom obviously knew what she was up to and wasn't just about to fall into her trap.

"It's really none of your business." His arms crossed over his chest.

"Oh? But I could help you out if you have any problems or anything."

'Is she forgetful or something..?' Phantom thought to himself in disbelief that she thought that he would fall for that.

"Spectra, everyone in the ghost zone knows what you're up to. You're just trying to figure out people's weaknesses and attack at it until people become overly sad and negative, depressed. You then collect the type of energy those emotions give out to keep you looking young. And since there is no access to the human world, it means that you're trying to do this to the ghosts instead. You'll do anything to get the energy to keep your looks fresh and young." She actually frowned this time, noticing that she had no luck in getting what she wanted.

She stood and started to walk towards the door to leave. She passed by Phantom. But then, just as she was about to reach a hand to the door knob, she stopped. She turned back around, walked back towards him and stood in front of him. Her hand was on her chin as she seemed to be studying him.

"What? What is it?" Phantom asked, annoyed that she hadn't left yet but curious as to why she suddenly came back to him.

"I can sense it..."

"Sense what?!"

She walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. His eyes widened as he slapped her hand away, his other hand now alight with ectoplasm.

"Leave, Spectra."

She shook her hand slightly from the pain of the slap and then grit her teeth as she turned and walked towards the door. She opened the door, then slammed it shut behind her.

Phantom shivered. He had felt her sucking on his emotions as she had placed that hand upon him. It certainly hadn't felt pleasant. 'She better not return anytime soon...'

* * *

He had finished his next book. He closed the book as he glanced over at the clock he had in his lair. It had been an hour since another ghost had come..

'Wait...

AN HOUR!?'

Phantom quickly looked back to the clock to confirm if he had looked at it properly. Why were there no more ghosts coming? It didn't make sense! The last time he had been left alone for so long...

_It was the first few weeks of being a ghost.._

_He was getting used to it all..._

_'As long as I don't have to go back..._

_I..._

_I don't ever want to experience that again...'_

_He thought to himself as he flew around the ghost zone, looking around._

He had been all alone then. He hardly ever saw any ghosts. Then, A ghost came to his lair... and asked for some advice, saying that they were desperate. Phantom, knowing that it was the right thing to do...

Plus, he had had experience before with this sort of thing. He told the ghost what he knew. The ghost had come back, a human day later. Thanking him and telling him how well it really worked. News spread fast...

Phantom was then known as the ghost that could give good advice. So ghosts started to come for advice. After awhile they came for other reasons also:

Telling them his plans and sometimes just wanting to chat. He didn't really mind at first. They only seemed to come round a few times in a full human day. But then they started to come more. Until finally, he could hardly have anytime to himself at all. See, Phantom liked to be alone. He liked company, yes. But he wanted a balance between company and being alone. But, since he wasn't getting enough alone time...  
He was starting to get annoyed whenever the ghosts came. Instead of the smile the ghosts used to see on his face whenever they came...

They saw a scowl instead..

Phantom's mood was slowly, but surly, getting worse in general...

Not many of them noticed this, really. A lot of them were pretty stupid. Only a few would probably be able to notice. And those who did, most likely didn't care. Most of them didn't even need advice anymore. They just told him random stuff or world domination plans..

He felt useless...

And...

He just wanted to be alone.

If he was like any of the other ghosts round here then he would've made it clear on what he wanted. But, he cared too much to be mean like that. To just tell them to go away. That wasn't right. He didn't want this, though. He wanted to really help. He wanted to save people. When he was alive, at least. He didn't mind what he did, as long as people lived, because he helped them.

And now...

Now, he can't do that.

'I can't do anything anymore...'

**And that's chapter two! Yeah...not as much humor as chapter one. But it still did have some humor at the start of the chapter. :D**

**I'm really curious as to what you guys think about this chapter. Any ideas as to what's bothering Phantom? What's up with him? I'd love to hear your theories!**

**That being said: Reviews are really appreciated.**

**I think the next chapter will be the last one. But, you never know. I may end up splitting up the next chapter into two chapters instead of one. We will just have to see about that one...**

**Next chapter we'll find out even more about Phantom (Woo!) and some of those questions that are no doubt going through your mind at the moment will be answered!**

**Thanks for all the reviews, favs, follows and for reading this fanfic.**

**Until next time!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Welcome back! It feels so good to update. (Yeah... I took ages to update... AGAIN!)**

**I decided to split it up into two chapters instead of just one. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own DP. I would like to say that I own Phantom... but I don't own him either. What do I own? Oooh! I know! I own Phantom's backstory! (As well as this idea and fanfic!)**

**Enjoy:**

Someone knocked upon the door. Phantom turned his attention to the newly replaced door. It was a four tapped knock. A certain code. He knew who it was.

"Come in, Ember." He called.

"Hey Phantom." She replied as she opened the door and closed it behind her. He gave her a small smile. He knew she wasn't here to talk about her problems...No, not anymore. He noticed that her guitar was now black and orange. 'Seems her and Skulker have made up again.' He thought as he looked at it. It was strapped around her back.

"You okay? Skulker said how you seemed quite annoyed when he last visited." Skulker, being one of the smarter ghosts who could actually see that he was annoyed. But what Phantom found odd was Skulker telling Ember about it. Did some ghosts actually care about him?

"How would you feel if your door was broken from it's hinges and smashed upon your wall?" Phantom replied, causing Ember to laugh.

"Good point, good point...But seriously, even if that was the cause that time..You've been quite bothered recently...Is something up? If you wanna talk then feel free to." Ember said. 'When was the last time something along those lines had been said to me...Awhile ago...Back...then...' Phantom thought to himself. "I-I'm fine... don't worry about it..."

Ember frowned. "Is it about your death..?"

"What?"

"It's your death anniversary today. Didn't you realize?"

"No..."

There was an awkward silence.

'Ember remembered that it was my death anniversary yet I forgot? How odd...' After a few more minutes Phantom decided to agree upon that. Even if it wasn't that, really...He didn't want to worry or bother anyone with his troubles. "Yeah... it is..." He said quietly with a slight nod. Ember walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder."If you ever want to talk about it then feel free to talk to me. I'll listen."

Phantom smiled at her. "If I need to talk about it then I will seek you out. But I'm fine right now. You can go." Ember nodded.

"If you insist." She turned and flew to the door. She then opened the door, about to leave.

"And Ember." She turned around to look at him. "Thanks." She nodded and smiled, turning around once again and walking out the door.

There was a slight sound as the door shut. Phantom placed a hand on his head. He shut his eyes as images swarmed his mind with the mention of his death.

* * *

_His eyes stung as they watered. He searched around the room as he called out. _"_Is anyone in here? Call out if you are! Come out if you're here! We need to leave!" He then waited for a few seconds..._

_He heard and saw nothing. So he ran out of the room and entered into the next one. __He continued to call. After waiting for another few seconds he saw a figure moving under a bed. He ran through the orange flickers of light around him as he kneeled before the bed. _"_Come on out, it's okay. I'm here...__I'll get you out." A girl with brown hair and green eyes crawled out from under the bed and to his side._

"_Where's daddy..?" She asked as she stood up beside him. _

"_Outside. Come on, I need to get you outside too. I think we're the last people in here." He said. The girl looked about 7. Maybe 6. __He lent out his hand and she took it. _"_Let's get out of here..."_

_He ran with her through orange swirls of light that were now surrounding the room completely, and were much bigger. The girl coughed as she ran. __Smoke was everywhere. It was getting harder and harder to breath. __They made it out of the room. The corridor was in an even worse state then it was before. Posts and wooden floor boards had fallen and were alight on the ground where they stood. He looked around and spotted a staircase. He ran with her down it._

Crash!

_There was now a big pile of wooden floor boards blocking their path. They were past (above) his head._

"_I'll lift you over the planks." He said as he lifted her up and over the burning pile of wood. He the dropped her and she landed onto her feet, on the other side of the orange swirls. He backed up slightly up the stairs. Then made a running jump over the pile of wood. He just made it and didn't get hurt. He was beside the girl once again. They started to run down the rest of the stairs. Then they were on the first floor. The front door was just a few meters away. They could see it open. They looked at each other and sprinted to the door. _

_Suddenly the floor gave way just before there feet. T__hey stopped._

"_I think we can make it...__But not at the same time." He said. __He picked her up for the second time. _"_You ready?" She silently nodded. __He used all his strength and threw her over the hole. She just made it._

_Just._

_She stood up, the door now just a few steps away. The floor boards underneath his feet creaked and he suddenly jumped backwards as a lot more of the floor fell down. The girl looked at the gap between her and him Then at him. _"_What are you doing? Get out of here! NOW!" He shouted. She looked towards the door then him one more time before getting up and running out the door. He looked at the hole. __It was too huge. __He wouldn't be able to make it across even if he tried. __He was stuck here..._

_The floor boards above him creaked and eventually broke. Falling ontop of him_

"_AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"_

_He was burning. Burning away. __But even though he was burning he had a small smile on his face just before he died. __That girl had been saved. He had saved her. She could live her life, not die young. __Like he had. __She could do so much more..._

_He died happy._

* * *

Yet now he felt sad...

He and Ember were close friends. He knew a lot about her. She knew some about him. She actually seemed to care a bit about him. Compared to all the other ghosts, at least.

She was his friend.

**Klemper: Why won't anyone be my friend!? **

**Phantom: *face-palm***

**Don't ask me why I came up with that... I just... did ^_^**

**Wow... Phantom's death...**

**I would LOVE your opinions and thought about it!**

**Thanks for reviewing, following, faving and even just reading.**

**Reviews are greatly ****appreciated!**

**See you next chapter!**


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